Just down our apartment along Calle Florida was the shopping arcade Galerías Pacífico, the most high-end shopping mall in Argentina. Galerías Pacífico isn’t just any shopping mall, it has had a long history, and - it’s beautiful inside. Built in the late 1800s, it was one of the tallest and broadest buildings of its era. In 1945, a large central cupola was constructed and decorated with 12 frescos by artists Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni, Juan Carlos Castagnino, Manuel Colmeiro and Demetrio Urruchúa. These frescos, finished in 1946, are some of the most important in Buenos Aires. In 1989 it was declared a national historic monument.

Once inside, we were amazed by the crown jewel of the building. Looking up, you could see the well-executed paintings on the ceiling of the cupola. Immediately, it reminded us of the Sistine chapel in the Vatican. The Renaissance-styled paintings evoked the sense of an elegant and artistic era, making us feel like we were in a museum or a grand cathedral. Why don’t people make more modern-day buildings look like that? Even if you aren’t interested in shopping, you should visit it. This place is mostly crowded with office workers, well-to-do locals and tourists.

 The wonderful frescoes in Galerías Pacífico

Here is the basement where there is a food court

The shopping arcade houses many luxury brands such as Tiffany, and many Argentine designer brands. It is such an incredibly handsome building. The top floor is now used as an exhibition space for art.

The glass-paneled ceiling lets in natural sunlight and looks geometrically amazing. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. Although this building was inspired by Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II, we think that they look quite different, each with its own uniqueness.

During our two-month stay in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, we had our meals several times a week at Galerías Pacífico. On the basement level, it has a high-quality food court, but to our surprise, the prices in this food court are quite steep compared to local pubs and restaurants, and compared to other countries in South America.

They sure eat well and healthy in Argentina, unlike in other parts of the world, especially the US; there is almost no deep fried food here, except for fries. Most food is grilled, stir-fried or baked. Since Argentina is well-known for its beef, you can get a good steak here for a reasonable price.  The beef is ok, not fantastic as hyped, and from what we’ve heard from the locals, the quality of the red meat has decreased over the last few years. We actually preferred the beef in the Chilean Patagonia.

All the food in this food court comes in a set, with a soft drink. The most expensive food in this food court is the Japanese restaurant which was almost always empty, followed by dull-looking Chinese food.

During the two months we were there, they raised the price of food in this food court once due to rising commodity prices and food shortage in the country - the result of farmers protesting against the government’s now-axed export duty hike.

 We liked the steak in this place. The steak (plus side and drink) was around US$8, a good deal.

We ordered from this stall so many times that the cashier even remembered our orders that came with special instructions.

Argentinians has a national passion: football. Remember Maradona? Whenever a match is on, you can see locals with their eyes transfixed on the TVs in restaurants, pubs and even the foodcourt, as shown in the pic above of the one in Galerías Pacífico. Many people’s favorite team is the Boca Juniors.

Argentinians cheering as the popular football team scored a goal

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